Page 55 of The Accidental Witch

She tipped her head back and laughed, her long hair spilling down her back before she glared at them. “Some imbecile fledgling who thought I’d share my riches with her once I got loose. Someone who no longer exists because she had the audacity to take something from me.”

Siobhan… Oh, dear God. “Siobhan?” she squeaked.

Gwinnifer stabbed her finger in the air. “That sounds right. Neither here nor there now, of course. She’s nothing but a husk, and that’s what the little bitch gets for helping to steal my magic!”

Greer, clearly becoming impatient, asked, “How did she steal your magic, Gwinnifer? The same way you stolemine?”

“Still angry about that, darling? Poor, sweet boy. It’s been so long. Surely you’re over it by now?” she asked sweetly, blowing him a kiss.

Greer’s jaw went hard, his eyes chips of ice.“How did she steal your magic and how did it end up in a planchette at Robbie’s apartment?”

Gwinnifer looked to Robbie. “Is that where it’s been? I wondered how you’d gotten your greedy little hands on it.”

Robbie licked her dry lips. “It was an accident… I swear. Funny story, here’s what happened, we were playing a game of Twister and?—”

“Quiet!” Gwinnifer shouted, her eyes ablaze, her hand high in the air, the threat of another spell imminent. “I don’t give a fig how you found it. I only care that you have it and now, I’m going to take it back.”

“How did Siobhan steal your magic?” Greer persisted with an angry holler. “Did you get careless? Did you trust the wrong person?”

Gwinnifer smiled, a lewd, evil affirmation of her dirty deeds. “You were always such a smart boy. I admit, Ididtrust the wrong person. I guess that’s my penance for being a naughty, naughty witch.”

Greer’s stare was hard, dripping with hatred, clearly refusing to let her off the hook. “Answer the question, Gwinnifer.”

She rolled her gorgeous eyes and sighed dramatically. “Susie?—”

“Siobhan,” Robbie corrected, to the tune of Nina making noises she was sure meant “shut up, dummy.”

Gwinnifer flapped a hand. “Yes. Her. So easy to manipulate when they’re young. She helped me sneak out of that horrendous jail cell. Oh, I can’t tell you how filthy it was, Greer.” She shook her head with a shudder as if to ward off the ugly memory. “Anyway, she snuck me out, and of course, I couldn’t have someone running around who might betray me in the future. So I let her go with the belief I’d teach her all my secrets…”

Robbie licked her lips, clenching her hands together. “But?”

Gwinnifer grinned. “But I put a spell on her, one that wouldn’t activate until she was safely at home, all tucked away in her bed. Silly girl. I imagine she had big dreams of becoming a powerhouse…until I drained her dry.”

Robbie’s chest began to rise and fall in rapid succession. Her panic rising like the tide. God, Greer hadn’t been kidding when he’d said she was horrible.

“So you killed her,” Greer said almost casually. “Not a surprise. It’s actually pretty predictable. That doesn’t explain how she got her hands on your magic.”

Planting her palms on her slender hips, Gwinnifer tossed her hair over her shoulder, her razor-sharp cheekbones turning crimson. “This is the part where I stupidly trusted someone. I allowed myself to be lulled, if you will, into a false sense of security.”

Greer’s impatience grew, if the sound of his sigh was any indication. “Who, Gwinnifer?Whodid you trust?”

She suddenly snapped her fingers, the sound sharp in the dark still of the night. In the silkiness that surrounded them, a silhouette appeared, wrapped in a sparkling rope, bound in magic Robbie smelled.

Greer had taught her to sniff for the scent of magic. The rope tethering the form was positively doused with it.

As the image became clearer, Greer huffed out, “Gary?”

Chapter

Seventeen

Everyone’s eyes, including Robbie’s, grew wide. Gary? As in Gary the broom that had once belonged to Greer’s mother Aradia?

Gary twisted and turned to no avail before Gwinnifer grabbed him by the handle, holding him so tightly, the light veins in her hand stood out, even in the dark.

“Indeed, Gary.” She gave him a hard shake. “This little turncoat, thishagfor my daughter, stole my magic and hid it from me and refused,refusedto tell me where it was. He literally stole it right out from under my nose! Can you imagine my dismay at that kind of betrayal, Greer?” Her finely boned hand fluttered to her heart in dramatic fashion. “It cut, darling.Deep.”

Savage. Gary was savage.

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